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Re: QUERY: Red Wop Explained
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CK: give Jansy a break! The VN-Wilson correspondence was indeed only
published in 1979, more than a decade after Pale Fire (1962).¹ But the
powder/redwop anagram inversion* occurs in a letter dated 1949, long before
its re-emergence in Pale Fire.
I read the 1949 Red Wop as a derogatory dig at the Italian Marxist theorist
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), clearly a plausible target for VN¹s contempt.
At least my interpretation is an amusing alternative to the cheap wine, Red
Wop, that Truman Capote¹s Percy Smith guzzled by the gallon in In Cold
Blood. The communist reading of Red is supported by the partizan/nazi-trap
margana in the same letter. Incidentally, partizan/nazi-trap is quite
staggeringly realistic compared with the mundane powder/redwop, where
there¹s less immediate connection between the two words. Not that that
should discourage creative speculation. I could, if bribed, suggest Hey
Gramsci, Lasciami in pace! Take a powder!
Seeking motivations for VN¹s recycling, I agree with Jansy that it seems an
example of the awkward Hazel¹s verbal problems.
If there are hints of dyslexia (alt.spell dyxlesia!) then Hazel turns out to
be remarkably lucky with her clever inversions!
As CK suggests, powder/redwop could just be one of the many wordplays in
VN¹s vast, volatile repertoire that sprang to his mind. But, contra Jansy,
we can never be sure that VN was consciously referring back to his previous
uage in a 1949 letter.
* which can be called a margana after the software program that shuffles
text* also known as Alexey¹s Little Helper??
See e.g., http://margana.runslinux.net/
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 20/02/2010 02:04, "Carolyn Kunin" <chaiselongue@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:
> Dear Jansy,
>
> Give me a break! The correspondence between Wilson and VN was only published
> in 1979, more than a decade after PF (1962):
>
> Author/Name:Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977.
> <http://catalog.library.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?SC=Author&SEQ=201002191
> 74223&PID=3DvXVTlXpvD31QQ8TGh6dLem7&SA=Nabokov,+Vladimir+Vladimirovich,+1899-1
> 977.>
> Title:The Nabokov-Wilson letters : correspondence between Vladimir Nabokov and
> Edmund Wilson, 1940-1971 / edited, annotated and with an introductory essay by
> Simon Karlinsky.
> Edition:1st ed.
> Published/distributed:New York : Harper & Row, c1979.
>
> What would VN's motive be in making reference to something in his private
> correspondence? Or does it simply mean that powder/red wop is without any
> hidden intention, which I guess is what we all assumed before Matt Roth asked
> the question? But the problem remains - - what's so "wonderful" about that? Or
> does VN simply give Hazel a joke that had meaning only for himself and
> possibly Wilson? It just doesn't add up.
>
> Carolyn
>
> p.s. "supreptitious"?
>
>
> On Feb 19, 2010, at 11:35 AM, jansymello wrote:
>
> C. Kunin:I fail to see what is the link between the apparently explosive
> powder/red wop and Hazel?
>
> JM: Once in a while I've the feeling that Kinbote bears traits inspired in how
> Nabokov sees critic E.Wilson.
> By his own admission, Kinbote notices that he has something in common with
> Hazel (twisting of words).
> Hazel twists T.S. Eliot into "Toilest" and "Powder" into "Red Wop." This
> practice is part of Bunny-Volodya exchanges, long before Hazel was born.
> Perhaps this element shared by Hazel and Kinbote is a jest with E.Wilson and
> their supreptitious envious "ban"s?
>
> I'll quote only from page 249 (letter 192, Feb.1949) VN addressed to Bunny:
> Do you still work upon such sets
> as for example "step" and "pets,"
> as "Nazitrap" and "partizan,"
> "Red Wop" and "powder," "nab" and "ban"?
>
> (And gosh! here we find "pets" and "powder" exploding in the same
> "quadruplets"... more amusing coincidences?)
> More about "amphisbaeniae" on page 241 ( VN's: stupor/Proust) and E.Wilson's
> comment on pg. 244 ("stupor fits, not Proust, but reputes, or better, rope
> Utes...")
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published in 1979, more than a decade after Pale Fire (1962).¹ But the
powder/redwop anagram inversion* occurs in a letter dated 1949, long before
its re-emergence in Pale Fire.
I read the 1949 Red Wop as a derogatory dig at the Italian Marxist theorist
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), clearly a plausible target for VN¹s contempt.
At least my interpretation is an amusing alternative to the cheap wine, Red
Wop, that Truman Capote¹s Percy Smith guzzled by the gallon in In Cold
Blood. The communist reading of Red is supported by the partizan/nazi-trap
margana in the same letter. Incidentally, partizan/nazi-trap is quite
staggeringly realistic compared with the mundane powder/redwop, where
there¹s less immediate connection between the two words. Not that that
should discourage creative speculation. I could, if bribed, suggest Hey
Gramsci, Lasciami in pace! Take a powder!
Seeking motivations for VN¹s recycling, I agree with Jansy that it seems an
example of the awkward Hazel¹s verbal problems.
If there are hints of dyslexia (alt.spell dyxlesia!) then Hazel turns out to
be remarkably lucky with her clever inversions!
As CK suggests, powder/redwop could just be one of the many wordplays in
VN¹s vast, volatile repertoire that sprang to his mind. But, contra Jansy,
we can never be sure that VN was consciously referring back to his previous
uage in a 1949 letter.
* which can be called a margana after the software program that shuffles
text* also known as Alexey¹s Little Helper??
See e.g., http://margana.runslinux.net/
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 20/02/2010 02:04, "Carolyn Kunin" <chaiselongue@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:
> Dear Jansy,
>
> Give me a break! The correspondence between Wilson and VN was only published
> in 1979, more than a decade after PF (1962):
>
> Author/Name:Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977.
> <http://catalog.library.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?SC=Author&SEQ=201002191
> 74223&PID=3DvXVTlXpvD31QQ8TGh6dLem7&SA=Nabokov,+Vladimir+Vladimirovich,+1899-1
> 977.>
> Title:The Nabokov-Wilson letters : correspondence between Vladimir Nabokov and
> Edmund Wilson, 1940-1971 / edited, annotated and with an introductory essay by
> Simon Karlinsky.
> Edition:1st ed.
> Published/distributed:New York : Harper & Row, c1979.
>
> What would VN's motive be in making reference to something in his private
> correspondence? Or does it simply mean that powder/red wop is without any
> hidden intention, which I guess is what we all assumed before Matt Roth asked
> the question? But the problem remains - - what's so "wonderful" about that? Or
> does VN simply give Hazel a joke that had meaning only for himself and
> possibly Wilson? It just doesn't add up.
>
> Carolyn
>
> p.s. "supreptitious"?
>
>
> On Feb 19, 2010, at 11:35 AM, jansymello wrote:
>
> C. Kunin:I fail to see what is the link between the apparently explosive
> powder/red wop and Hazel?
>
> JM: Once in a while I've the feeling that Kinbote bears traits inspired in how
> Nabokov sees critic E.Wilson.
> By his own admission, Kinbote notices that he has something in common with
> Hazel (twisting of words).
> Hazel twists T.S. Eliot into "Toilest" and "Powder" into "Red Wop." This
> practice is part of Bunny-Volodya exchanges, long before Hazel was born.
> Perhaps this element shared by Hazel and Kinbote is a jest with E.Wilson and
> their supreptitious envious "ban"s?
>
> I'll quote only from page 249 (letter 192, Feb.1949) VN addressed to Bunny:
> Do you still work upon such sets
> as for example "step" and "pets,"
> as "Nazitrap" and "partizan,"
> "Red Wop" and "powder," "nab" and "ban"?
>
> (And gosh! here we find "pets" and "powder" exploding in the same
> "quadruplets"... more amusing coincidences?)
> More about "amphisbaeniae" on page 241 ( VN's: stupor/Proust) and E.Wilson's
> comment on pg. 244 ("stupor fits, not Proust, but reputes, or better, rope
> Utes...")
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/